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Sheriff

Building RC cars with toddler around, impossible!

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Well over the last few years, I've been collecting various RC car 'stuff', and have 9 NIB kits.

The thing is, it's impossible to attempt to start building any of them, due to my 2.5 year old boys fascination with the cars/boxes/parts whenever I bring anything into the room. I can guarantee, that if I began a build and laid out tools and parts on a table- that at least 20% of them would be missing by the end of the day. It's impossible!

The only time I get is after 8pm when he's in bed,- but I'm usually too tired to start building anything then.

I love how he's interested, don't get me wrong.

So, to those of you with toddlers around, how do you manage building RC cars?!

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Like you said, put them to bed, and start building. Otherwise, grab time on weekend if he goes with Mom somehwere or trip to grandparents?

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My rc life (and social life in general) went on hold when my little lad was born, but I'm pretty sure he was playing with rc at around 3 so maybe you could buy him a little car of his own as a distraction from your more expensive models? He could pretend to build with you if you get him some kids tools :)

Thats what i did with my boy, got him a cheap 1/24th scale car. He drives my cars now, he's 5 going on 6 and said the other day that a silver can is slow lol

I didn't even drive a 1/10 car till I was about 11!

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I built a High Lift with my 2 year old taking a great interest in it. I gave him the wheels and tires to play with so he stayed out of the parts box, then when I was assembling the axles and the gearbox gave him the sub assemblies to play with while I was putting other bits together. He was fascinated watching the gears turn as he turned the various shafts by hand. While I was working at the kitchen table on it I also got him to 'help' me by getting him to put in some of the screws into the axles and then do them up with a screwdriver. For the painting and detailing of the shell I did in the safety of the garage by myself :)

The trick is to give them something to occupy their minds and fingers so they aren't constantly dipping into the parts bags.

It also helps to have a TXT-1 on standby full assembled for them to push around on the floor if they get bored ;) .

When my son was a little over a year old his eyes nearly popped out when I brought a TXT-1 out of the loft and let him play with it on the lounge floor. Most of his toys were quite small, and the TXT was nearly the same size as him, so he loved that :)

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This is funny... LOL. You are not alone! I have been dealing with this for 8 years now. Thankfully we are done with kids and mine are to the age where they aren't getting into your stuff, but enjoying what you spend all of the time building. It is really hard to wait for the kids to be in bed to build, but it is kind of the only way to do it. You will almost always end up staying up way too late going that route, but what can you do.. Priorities right? :)

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Build most of mine after my 3 year old is in bed too. On the occasions when he's been around I do most of my builds on the kitchen table and make sure nothing is within grabbing distance of the edge! I'll also let him play with the wheels or tyres and that use to keep him happy. Now a days I'll give him the controller and let him test the steering servo out and make sure the motor works before fitting them into the car.

If he gets a bit to handy then a quick session of Peppa Pig will usually distract him :D

Or you can of course get him involved in another project :)

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Cool pic Mr. Crispy! The vintage skateboard adds fun to it. Before you know it, your kids will be the ones on the driver's stand and you are the one running around turning over cars on the track :) I could spend all day at the track (play days) and never even drive and have an absolute blast as long as your kids are having fun driving

KaneonDriversStand_zps0a64cb5f.jpg

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I'm building a CC-01 Land Cruiser for my one year old now. He's really into cars and especially wheels.

Waiting for a 80 turn motor to complete the build, but mostly it's for him to push around on the floor.

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Distraction is your friend, my little guy always loved the build and playing with the cars when done. Just look at the smile on his face. Nothing better than qualitly time doing something you both like.

BentandDualDigger.jpg

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You're on the cusp of him being introduced to all the toys that become available once he hits 3. It's incredible how much stuff is 3+ because of the small parts thing. It's quite weird how they suddenly aren't interested in putting things in their mouth at that age. Where I'm going with this is there will soon be loads of stuff at your disposal to distract him with such as Lego (proper stuff not Duplo), Playdoh, etc... and you'll find they get immersed in it leaving you to play with your stuff at the same time. Or what is more likely is you'll ignore the RC stuff yourself and start playing with the Lego yourself as I do ha ha

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I would stop building the RC and spend the time with him. You will never get those moments with him back and next thing you know he will be in his teens and he does not want to hang out with you. You can always build those RC later. Trust me, in your later years you may wish you played with him more.

Get the WildWilley or the boy racer and let him muck around with you and you won't really care if it turns out not the way you wanted.

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That's kinda where I was going with the Lego thing, it's a great way to share time with kids plus you get to buy kits that you wanted as a kid (similar to RC ha ha).

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My little girl is going to be two in a few weeks, she doesn't let me do anything on my RC stuff. Not that I'm bothered; as long as we are playing it's quality time spent together :)

I have taken to doing stuff late at night and in the brief spells whilst she is asleep.

I have even taken to ocassionally doing some stuff at my desk at work! The underneath of my desk was like a miniature service station earlier in the week...

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Late nights and tired mornings for me until my youngest was about 4.

Now, the older one (8) helps with the wrenching, and the youngest (5) likes nothing more than sorting all the screws and things into my build boxes.

I have had to resort to cracking open a few extra screw bags from other kits I know I will build, so she can sort those for me too.

Anything to get a few extra minutes of building! :D

Thankfully, they both love taking the cars for fang down the beach!

I agree, time spent doing anything with them is priceless, but building and driving with them is just the cream on top as far as I am concerned.

Keep trying, they will be ready to help out before you know it.

I swear by the sorting though! ;)

C..

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G'day Sheriff,

As I type my three year old son is reciting the alphabet over and over and over. I think there has been some excellent advice given through this thread obviously from experienced Dads. The thing I think is the best is just to enjoy time with them whatever it is you do together, be it building an RC car or just reading a book. One thing I have learned is they don't stay little for long, and they grow very fast.

My baby girl is now six, and as mentioned my little man is very soon to be four. It seems like only yesterday I could hold my daughter in one hand, now I struggle to carry her from the bath to her bed when it's time to get dry and put on her pajamas.

I have always thought I will know the time when they are ready for RC, and when that time comes we can build together so they have a basic understanding of tools and how to use and care for them properly, also the basics of how cars work so they can do their own assisted rebuilds and repairs after crashes. Sure I could have started earlier with my girl, but I have been waiting till they are both ready, which is very soon. Maybe this Christmas they will both get their own cars to build with me, just as I did so many years ago with my Dad.

I have already bought them their rides being re re Grasshopper and Hornet kits. The same ones that my brother and myself got on that special Christmas so long ago. Thinking about it now I don't think I've received any other present that has has such an impact on my life for such a long time. I have been in love ever since.

I am now lots like you, I have not built a kit for about seven years, but from a quick memory count I have 21 NIB kits sitting there ready to go. To take the edge off I have made a purpose built build table. It is quite large and made of 1" box steel powder coated black with a 1/2" thick ply top and lockable caster wheels. The ply has been hit with 3 coats of clear, then I mounted my Dremel drill press in one corner, my battery charger in the other, and in another corner sits my Tamiya work station. All wiring is hung beneath via hooks and goes to a screwed off four way adaptor. I have also been grabbing all the tools you wish you had but never bothered to get. Just one here and one there. Body reamer, 3mm thread tap, non marking multi grips, TRF build mat, quality screw drivers etc, all Tamiya of course. It has been great for me getting organised and more prepaired than I ever though I'd be, so I can really enjoy the builds when that times comes around. My preparation work and reading build threads have been my saviour in combination with all that happens in the threads here at Tamiya Club over the years.

Sorry for rambling on but I must say your not alone my friend, enjoy your children while they are young. There'll be plenty of time for RC soon either together or on your own.

Cheers, The Smoothee. :)

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I think this forum has turned into best practice for Dads just like the Mrs. get to together in sharing how to deal with their kids.

I learned this from my mother-inlaw.

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I lock my 2 kids upstairs in their room, open a beer and build/rebuild my cars on the kitchen table when the wife's out. Good parenting 101.

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You can always start off with a bit of drag racing :lol:

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Although my son did insist on putting farmer fred at a disadvantage by loading the trailer with wooden blocks ......

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